Skateboarders are an increasingly common feature of the urban environment - recent estimates total 40 million world-wide. We are all aware of their often extraordinary talent and manoeuvres on the city streets. This book is the first detailed study of the urban phenomenon of skateboarding. It looks at skateboarding history from the surf-beaches of California in the 1950s, through the purpose-built skateparks of the 1970s, to the street-skating of the present day and shows how skateboarders experience and understand the city through their sport. Dismissive of authority and convention, skateboarders suggest that the city is not just a place for working and shopping but a true pleasure-ground, a place where the human body, emotions and energy can be expressed to the full. The huge skateboarding subculture that revolves around graphically-designed clothes and boards, music, slang and moves provides a rich resource for exploring issues of gender, race, class, sexuality and the family. As the author demonstrates, street-style skateboarding, especially characteristic of recent decades, conducts a performative critique of architecture, the city and capitalism. Anyone interested in the history and sociology of sport, urban geography or architecture will find this book riveting.
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £5.58
Trade in Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £5.58, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Learn more
|
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
'Those few of us in the academy engaged in writing about the sociospatial relations of skating delight in the polished arguments that Borden presents over nine logically structured, pertinent and stylishly illustrated chapters.' Cultural Geographies Borden describes the emergence of not so much a sport as a way of life ... Its relation to architecture is kept beautifully clear ... a good read.' Building Design 'Skateboarders help us to think about buildings and their use. Borden argues that they draw our attention to the city as the site of perpetual change.' The Independent 'The first academic study of skateboarding.' Dazed and Confused 'There's absolutely no way I can do [the] work justice here the book is incredibly thought-provoking, especially from the perspective of actually being a skateboarder. I highly recommend it.' Sidewalk 'A fine book that I recommend to any skateboarder who can read at a college level.' Big Brother 'Borden owes as much to 30 year The book is excellently researched and draws upon an exhaustive aumount of secondary data on skateboarding. A highly original and extremely well written text that discusses the historical and cultural meaning of skateboarding through an engagin reading of the work of Lefebvre and others. University of Sussex
About the Author
Iain Borden Director of Architectural History and Theory and Reader in Architecture and Urban Culture at the Bartlett,University College London
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Jay Oh
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The author may be one of very few people to be interested in both skateboarding and architectural theory, but that shouldn't deter readers who aren't familiar with both. Borden's book is clearly written and will guide you through with little confusion - or, better yet, go and watch the skaters at the Undercroft on the South Bank, then read this, then you'll really understand the intersection of theory and movement in architecture that Borden seeks to express.
For readers coming from the urban studies direction, 'Skateboarding, Space and the City' has particular appeal for the way it explains the ideas of Henri Lefebvre. No-one actually likes reading Lefebvre, for his writing is tangled and unclear - but Borden makes it relevant and painless. Theoretically he discusses ideas about the production and representation of space, of performance and use as central to urban space rather than fixed structures 'authored' by one designer. Skateboarding, this marginalised, counter-culture sport, makes a perfect partner for this cutting-edge reinterpretation - and the liveliness of this book is not just in its topic, but also the many pictures and straight-talking quotes taken from actual skaters about how they think about skateboarding. Even for a non-skater, its treatment of the development of skateboarding is a fascinating slice of cultural history, particularly when watched in tandem with skateboarding films such as Dogtown and Z-Boys [2001]
Hugely interesting, theoretically bang on, innovative, and absolutely recommended.
For readers coming from the urban studies direction, 'Skateboarding, Space and the City' has particular appeal for the way it explains the ideas of Henri Lefebvre. No-one actually likes reading Lefebvre, for his writing is tangled and unclear - but Borden makes it relevant and painless. Theoretically he discusses ideas about the production and representation of space, of performance and use as central to urban space rather than fixed structures 'authored' by one designer. Skateboarding, this marginalised, counter-culture sport, makes a perfect partner for this cutting-edge reinterpretation - and the liveliness of this book is not just in its topic, but also the many pictures and straight-talking quotes taken from actual skaters about how they think about skateboarding. Even for a non-skater, its treatment of the development of skateboarding is a fascinating slice of cultural history, particularly when watched in tandem with skateboarding films such as Dogtown and Z-Boys [2001]
Hugely interesting, theoretically bang on, innovative, and absolutely recommended.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book is essential armoury in any skater's weapons cupboard when moving through a street skate session. It will provide many an argument and counter argument to those who can understand it, and in future years will hopefully be considered a classic, even if no-one can make head nor tail of it. The best bit for me was the picture of the author at Romford. Thanks Iain, security guards will never be the same again.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By max_64
Format:Paperback
great book, a complete story of skateboarding from the beginnig.
But the book miss a point: today street skating is 50% made of freestyle-flatland skateboarding of the '90s (see Rodney Mullen)
But the book miss a point: today street skating is 50% made of freestyle-flatland skateboarding of the '90s (see Rodney Mullen)
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Architecture > Planning
- Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Architecture > Types of Architecture > Landscape
- Books > History > Cultural History > Local & Urban History
- Books > Science & Nature > Earth Sciences & Geography > Education > Higher Education
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Anthropology > Social & Cultural
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Human Geography
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Sociology > Family & Social Groups > Urban Communities
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Urban & Rural Planning
- Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
